There, the following is written in the report by the office of Interim City Manager Reese Goad, “…however, the Human Resources Director, Ms. (Ellen) Blair was not informed of her requirement to file Form 1 Financial Disclosure …”

Hello? She is the human resources director!

It’s her job to know what those requirements are. In fact, it’s right there in her job description… twice!

“Maintains and promulgates necessary departmental rules and regulations in accordance with Personnel Policy and Procedures and other City policies.”

“Ensures organization personnel policies and practices are in line with applicable federal, state, and local laws, ordinances, and rules and ensures that managers, supervisors and the workforce compliance with these policies and practices, as applicable.”

Oh, and guess what else is in the job description posted on the city’s website?

The financial disclosure requirement!

“An incumbent of this job classification may be required to file a financial disclosure statement with the Supervisor of Elections in their county of residence, in compliance with Florida Statutes, Chapter 112, Part III. Such filing is required within 30 days of placement in a covered position, annually thereafter by no later than July 1 of each year in which they serve in the covered position, and within 60 days of leaving the covered position.”

Using the excuse that the HR director didn’t know what was in her job description is like promoting an accountant to CFO, but excusing her for not knowing she needed to follow Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP).

Another breathtaking conclusion from the report: Blair didn’t knowingly directly or indirectly accept a gift from a vendor lobbyist.

The basis for this conclusion is that Blair didn’t solicit the tickets from now deposed city manager, Rick Fernandez, but rather they were offered as a “gesture of kindness” to her and Underground Utilities General Manager Mike Tadros.

Blair then claims, in a written statement included with the report: “The tickets were for an eastside skybox and I sat in an open seat. Mr. Fernandez did not sit with me during the game – he came up to the skybox briefly at half time but left the skybox before the second half began.”

Since Goad conceded that the tickets came from Old School – the box run by Adam Corey, who did lobbying work for city vendors – are he and Blair really arguing that she had no idea she was sitting in the Old School box? She had no idea who any of those people were?

The city’s contorted tally of the ticket value is also suspect.

It relied on five different possible calculations to conclude the value of the ticket was $100, conveniently a penny below the legal threshold requiring gift reporting.

Set aside what a deal it is to experience a luxury box seat for your Seminoles — featuring bottomless adult drinks and catered food — for a single C-note. According to her statement, Blair received two tickets from Fernandez. She gave the other ticket to a fellow city employee, but doesn’t that mean Fernandez’s “gesture” actually is valued at $200?

Here is another question Goad apparently didn’t ask during his investigation: Did Blair and Tadros (or other city employees for that matter) accept tickets to any other games? The practice already cost Fernandez his job, so the question certainly would seem germane to the investigation.

The big question: What kind of investigation was this? It doesn’t take a cynic to conclude that the city started out with the result it wanted – Tadros and Blair would emerge from the matter unscathed – and then ignored questions that might lead to facts unfriendly to the conclusion.

Meanwhile, the city’s Independent Ethics Board, which is kept toothless by city commissioner inaction, all but admitted Tuesday evening that it has no power to do anything about any of this, despite clear consternation over the integrity of the investigation.

And city leaders wonder why confidence in government is in the pits.

Thankfully, our sources tell us the Florida Commission on Ethics has performed a much more comprehensive investigation. That report is expected back in June.

What is clear for all to see is this: Residents of the city of Tallahassee must put their faith in state and federal investigative bodies to shine the light on the ethical (and perhaps legal) shortcomings in the city of Tallahassee.